Toyota RAV4 Smart Key

I'd like to have a keypad (like Ford products) installed on my wife's new RAV. We just traded in her Ford and she always left her keys in the car, using the keypad to enter after it had been locked.

Since leaving the Smart key in the vehicle prevents the doors from being locked, I've been told that installing a keypad would NOT defeat this feature. Thus, she would not be able to lock the the RAV (using the lock on the drivers door) while leaving the Smart key in the car. The installation of the key pad would be a waste of money.

Comments

Sounds like solid logic to me. If the idea is to intentionally lock the key in the car, that's impossible with the smart key on the RAV4 Limited. Even if you have one key with you outside the car and leave one key inside, it still won't lock.

Just purchased an 09 Rav4 that came with only 1 smart key - is a Toyota dealer the only place to obtain a spare? Can a used smart key with identical FCC ID and IC numbers be reprogrammed for my vehicle??

I ask 2 Rav4 owner with smart keys and they have thesame problem. all cars are supposed to lock doors automatically once you start or shift gear from park to drive as protection for all drivers, but this Rav4 with smart keys does not automatically lock! if other cars can lock why not for Rav4? I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS SMART KEY OR PUSH BUTTON START!!!! I think Toyota is just experimenting!!!!

Yesterday the car was driven home and parked in park. The car then would not work. The keys showed up as missing when trying to start the car. It was towed to the shop, but it had to be taken out of park and rolled to make room for the tow truck. The car was then put into park again and still the smart key did not work. The car was taken to a dealership and lo and behold the key started working as soon as it was off the tow truck. The techs ran a test and stated the reason it did not start is because the computer says the car was in gear 3. Clearly it was not, but they say the car is fine. Has anybody else had this problem?

I've searched and searched the RAV4 manual but I can't find any reference to the red LED on the top left face of the Smart Key. All I can tell you is that the LED flashes when I press the Start/Stop button. Oh, and the car won't start, either.

Yes, I had a similar problem last Sunday. After driving my car into the garage from church, apparently the smart key did not disengage when it was put into park and the engine was stopped using the dash button. Later that night my wife heard a noise from the vehicle. I tried cranking it and it was like trying to crank a dead engine. On Memorial Day, I called The Dealership, but they could not help me get it running and suggested I have it towed there on Tuesday. In the meantime, I decided to charge the battery for an hour even though the lights, etc. all worked. Then the vehicle started and I drove it to the dealership on Tuesday. The mechanics there got it to "act up" once, but said everything checks out. Southeast Toyota in Florida was not much help at all.

BTW, my vehicle is a 2012 six cylinder with only 4,100 miles. Southeast Toyota's reply was that the smart key has to have about three or four components all acting in sync at the same time for it to operate as designed. Since the dealership could only duplicate the problem once, they have decided to do nothing for the time being and see if I get stranded.